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Captive Red Army soldiers made up the majority of victims of Nazi Germany’s starvation policy against Soviet civilians and other non-combatants and thus constituted the largest single victim group of the German war of annihilation against the Soviet Union. Indeed, Soviet prisoners of war were the largest victim group of all National Socialist annihilation policies after the European Jews. Before the launch of Operation Barbarossa, it was clear to the Wehrmacht planning departments on exactly what scale they could expect to capture Soviet troops. Yet, they neglected to make the necessary preparations for feeding and sheltering the captured soldiers, who were viewed by the economic staffs and the military leadership alike as direct competitors of German troops and the German home front for precious food supplies. The number of extra mouths to feed was incompatible with German war aims. The obvious limitations on their freedom of movement and the relative ease with which large numbers could be segregated and their rations controlled were crucial factors in the death of over 3 million Soviet POWs, the vast majority directly or indirectly as a result of deliberate policies of neglect, undernourishment, and starvation while in the ‘care’ of the Wehrmacht. The most reliable figures for the mortality of Soviet POWs in German captivity reveal that up to 3.3 million died from a total of just over 5.7 million captured between June 1941 and February 1945 — a proportion of almost 58 percent. Of these, 2 million were already dead by the beginning of February 1942. In English, there is still neither a single monograph nor a single edited volume dedicated to the subject. This article now provides the first detailed stand-alone synthesis in that language addressing the whole period from 1941 to 1945.
La Wehrmacht tenía muy claro a qué escala podía esperar capturar a las tropas soviéticas, pero aun así descuidó los preparativos necesarios para alimentar y alojar a unos hombres que los planificadores económicos y los jefes militares consideraron que serían competidores directos de las fuerzas armadas en lo que a víveres se refiere. Las obvias limitaciones a su libertad de movimiento y la relativa facilidad con la que grandes cantidades de ellos pudieron ser segregados y sus raciones controladas fueron factores cruciales a la hora de explicar la muerte de más de tres millones de prisioneros de guerra soviéticos, la inmensa mayoría de ellos como consecuencia directa o indirecta del hambre y la desnutrición. El proceso se inició con un claro desinterés por encargarse debidamente de aquella gente, pero con la llegada del otoño derivó en la decisión clara y meditada de matar de hambre a todos los que no pudieran aportar su trabajo a la economía de guerra o a los ejércitos alemanes.
Liebesgaben aus West-Berlin
(2023)
Eine Frage der Würdigkeit?
(2023)
In the Shadow of Ukraine
(2022)
In 2022, India captured global attention over its response to the war in Ukraine. While calling for both parties' return to diplomacy, India abstained from several United Nations resolutions condemning Russian aggression. For a country that ostensibly subscribes to the values of democracy and territorial integrity, its response appeared frustrating and contradictory, but it is broadly consistent with its long-standing policy of non-alignment. Although India's relationship with China is increasingly contentious, New Delhi is not yet fully convinced that it is in India's interest to swing westwards. The country's relations with Russia and China are deep, complex and substantive. In addition to the military and economic benefits it derives from its connection with Russia, New Delhi and Moscow share an avowed preference for a more equal, multipolar world. India will eventually have to reflect on the extent to which it can sustain its balancing act.